When All Secrets Are Revealed!
by Alyxx
Summary: "I've been lying to you Nick," The girl Fury nicknamed Mystery said, "It's time I told you the truth, today is the day you find out who I am." Mystery continued. "You'd better take a seat," Fury said. When a girl more mysterious than the god of mischief comes clean the world may just stop spinning. What happens when all secrets are revealed? Not just Mystery's but SHIELD's aswell.
1. Chapter 1

When all secrets are revealed!

_Knock, knock, knock_

"Come in," Director Fury said to the knock on his office door. "Ahh Mystery, to what do I owe the pleasure?" He says to Mystery as she walks into his office.

"I've been lying to you Nick, it's time I told you the truth." The girl Fury nicknamed Mystery because that's what she was. "Today is the day I tell you who I am."

"You'd better take a seat." Fury says looking her over with his good eye. "Why don't we start with your name?" he says once she is seated.

"My name, well my name is Claira, Claira Coulson." The girl said.

3 years ago…

Agent Phil Coulson was sitting in his office in his Mobile Command Unit nicknamed the bus when his phone rang.

"Hello?" he said once he answered the phone.

"Hey Dad, so um funny story." Phil's daughter Claira said.

"Hello Claire what trouble have you gotten in this time hmm?" Coulson said calling Claira Claire as most people do.

"Well that's the funny story umm I'm kind of, well…" Claira said obviously stalling.

"Claira Louise Coulson what have you done. And where are you?" Agent Coulson yelled just knowing that his daughter had gone to knew lengths of mischief and probably crossed a line.

"What I did well all I did was go to a party with some friends. After sneaking out of the house when I was grounded, and then the party got a little crazy and I got a lift out of there. From the cops. Because I was arrested. And am now in a holding cell with a really drunk really creepy guy." Claira told her father as she braced herself for his reaction.

"Which police station are you at?" Coulson asked deathly calm.

"251 E. 6th Street Los Angeles." Claira responded.

"LOS ANGELES, WHY ARE YOU IN LOS ANGELES?!" Coulson yelled, he was incredibly surprised because Claira lived in Washington, D.C. which is 3 and a half days away from LA.

"Umm, AC?" Coulson's consultant Skye says as she enters the room. "Is this a bad time?" Skye asked because she heard Coulson yell. AC standing for Agent Coulson.

"Actually it is. Would you do me a favour and tell May to turn the bus around. We're going to Los Angeles." Coulson said sounding almost in pain.

"Umm Ok?" Skye said before walking out.

"We will be there soon Claira." Coulson said before hanging up.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles Claira attempted to charm her way out of trouble before her father got there and had to bail her out.

"So Officer, what's a girl got to do to get out of here huh?" Claira asked while she did her best to look seductive.

"Get bailed out." The guarding officer said as he walked off, clearly Claira's charms did not work. Probably because she was only twenty years old. Which is under legal age. "Or attempt an escape that will fail." The guards yelled and chuckled as he closed the door meaning he had finished his check over of the cells.

"Well you asked for it." Claira said mainly to herself before creating an escape plan. She had no intention of waiting here for her father.

"Okay think. I've got it." She said before walking over to the guy she was sharing the cell with and doing her reading thing. She had an ability, she knows what people want. She knows things about people that quite often they don't know and she is empathetic. She knew how to get through to this guy and she was damn good at manipulating people. Usually.

"Hey, you know how you know that because your father is rich and a cop you can get out of here." She began the guy nodded obviously too drunk to realise that she had no way of knowing that. "Well how would you like to help me out? Seeing as you're going to get out anyway." She said. He looked at her confused. "All you got to do is punch me." Claira said. The guy nodded.

"You sure about this?" he asked, his words slurred.

"Are you?" Claira asked. He just smiled and punched her. "My name's Claire by the way, and I'm ever so grateful." She said before screaming.

"HEEEELP MEEEEE! THIS GUY IS NUTS! HEELPP GET ME OUTTA HERE!" Claira yelled.

"My name's Daniel, and your welcome." He said just before guards came running in. after seeing the blood running down Claira's face they had opened the gate and ran in. they quickly detained Daniel then walked over to me.

"Are you alright?" The guard that came over to her asked.

"Oh I am just fine." Claira said before she kicked the guy in the face. She then began to run when she accidently got a read of that guy. "I am so so sorry about your daughter. But you will find her. I know you will." Claira said before running out as guards began running in the opposite door. She makes it out of the building but doesn't stop running until she reaches the park. She quickly locates a bus station and gets a ticket to New York. She has an apartment there where she knows she is safe. After boarding the bus she starts thinking about the man that helped her escape. She knows his name from when she read him. Daniel South. Maybe she would see him again.

Back on the bus they had landed in LA when Agent Melinda May walked into Coulson's office.

"Coulson why are we in LA?" May asked as she enters the room.

"Oh you have Claire to blame for that. She got arrested." Coulson said still fuming over his daughter being arrested.

"Of Course she did. Where is she?" May asked

"Police station." Coulson says. Don't look at me like that she is your daughter too." Coulson added after he saw May's look that clearly said, 'You have no control over her.'

"Come on." She said before walking down the stairs, Phil hot in her heels.

"Sir, why are we here do we have a mission?" Agent Grant Ward asked as his two superiors walk into the cargo bay of the bus.

"No, I have something to take care of, you stay here with Fitzsimmons and Skye. May you're with me." Coulson said before getting in his prize car Lola's driver's seat. May then got into the passenger's seat after giving Ward a look that said 'don't ask!' which he didn't simply nodded and headed into the lab where his rookie and the two scientists that he now sees as friends are working on something.

Coulson and May drive to the LAPD in silence both of them thinking about their daughter. When they had finally arrived they had silently agreed that their daughter didn't need a punishment, she needed a serious talk.

"We are looking for Claira May." Coulson said when they arrived at the front desk of the department. They both knew that Claira had set up that ID a long time ago to help keep her identity a secret.

"Yes well so is every officer in this precinct. Are you her parents?" the officer at the reception desk asked.

"Yes, where is she?" May asked the officer not failing to pick up on the fact that she was lost.

"We don't know, she escaped. Perhaps you'd like to explain how she knew about an officer's daughter's kidnapping that happened only an hour prior. That he didn't even know about yet." The officer asked.

"What?" both parents said.


	2. Chapter 2

"What?" Both parents said.

"Look." The officer said and showed May and Coulson the security footage of what Claira said.

"I honestly have no explanation for that." Coulson said he didn't bother hiding the shock clear on his face. How had his daughter known? "I'll call her." Coulson added a while later.

"Hello?" Claira had said when she answered her phone.

"Where the hell are you?" Coulson asked furious but he was quiet.

"Going to my apartment." Claira responded casually.

"Claire! You were supposed to wait here wait which apartment?" Coulson asked when he realised she had more than one.

"New York!" Claira responded quietly.

"Ok you know what we are touching down in New York meet us at the usual park bench!" Coulson said angrily before he hung up.

"Okay got her." Coulson explained to May when he had turned to her.

"Uh what about us. She just escaped from lock up. CRIME!" the reception officer had said.

"Look I'm Agent Phil Coulson this is Agent May of SHIELD if you would like we can get the director or deputy on the phone to order you to drop it or we can pay what bail there was and deal with her ourselves. Your choice lady!" Coulson had said clearly angrier than before. The reception desk just nodded. Once that had been dealt with the two senior agents returned to the plane.

"Wheels up in five." May said as soon as she got aboard. Coulson just got out and went up to his office.

"Any idea what's going on?" Agent Jemma Simmons asked.

"I mean the random visit to LA and now where are we going?" Agent Leo Fitz finished.

"I have no idea but I think it's one of those things that you just don't ask about." Ward said.

"Yes well those secrets are the ones I specialise at. Later!" Skye said before she headed up to Coulson's office.

"AC is everything okay with you and May?" Skye asked when she entered the office.

"No actually it isn't we have a fairly big problem that we have to take care of. So now we are headed to New York. I suggest you buckle up. Wheels up in two." Coulson had said. Skye wondered what was going on that frazzled Coulson so much. The only thing that had ever done that was her but she bucked up nonetheless.

At the same time Claira was just getting into her apartment. She had known she was in big trouble but she just couldn't stay in that cell any longer. The problem was that she was broke. She needed a job. Her parents were travelling the world with their team and they gave her an allowance every week which was pretty good. But she hated asking her parents for stuff. She had finished school four years ago when she was sixteen so she could get pretty much any job she wanted. The only job that required her skill set enough to hire a twenty year old was at stark industries. Something she actively avoids. But she had no choice so she called up the contact in Stark Industries and got an interview. It was for tomorrow until then she had about two hours before her parents arrived so she got changed had a shower and something to eat being thankful that she kept the necessary things at all four of her apartments.

Two and a half hours later Claira was sitting on the park bench that she once or twice broke when she was a child. This park bench was a common meeting place with her parents because she built it herself when she destroyed the one before it. She had even painted it and did touch ups on it when ever she was in town. She had even added in cup holders a year before.

She was thinking of this when her parents arrived and sat down next to her.

"Claira what has gotten into you?" Coulson had asked being the first one to break the silence that had washed over them.

"Look I tried to get out of there but by the time I had gotten through the crowd to the door the cops had arrived. It wasn't my fault! When things were getting too crazy I tried to leave. Everyone knew I hadn't done anything because I never do the only reason I was arrested was because the iddiot cop tried to grab me from behind and I reacted on instinct which left him on the ground." Claira explained to her parents. They seemed to nod but Claira wasn't sure. She just didn't want her parents to be disappointed.

"Claira forgetting the getting arrested part you were grounded. And you snuck out!" May said trying to remain calm.

"It's not really sneaking out when no one is home to stop me." Claira had said.  
"Claira you know we can't be there, you decided to live on you own instead of with family friends." Coulson said. He hadn't been sure at the time why she was upset.

"Yes well most of your friends don't know about me. The only one who does lives in Finland. So excuse me for wanting to live somewhere that allows me to actually see you." Claira explained obviously resenting that.

"We know it sucks Claire. But it's all we got to keep you safe." May explained, she just wanted her daughter to understand.

"I know. Anyway I'm planning on staying in this city. How long you guys here for?" Claira asked her parents though she already knew the answer.

"We actually have to get going. Just Claira do us a favour. Make sure you keep your future bright. We love you!" Coulson said before hugging his daughter. May then hugged her before they both left.

"Well, guess it's just me." Claira says to herself before heading home making a mental note to re-paint the bench.

When Coulson and May returned to the bus May heads back to the cockpit while Coulson heads to the lab.

"Hey guys. I just want to thank you. You've had no idea what's going on and I doubt that either May nor have I been pleasant. Just please do not ask May about it." Coulson says when he enters the lab.

"Ok but sir what is going on?" Ward asked when Coulson had finished talking.

"If the time comes that you need to know ward, you will know! Until then I apologise but you're just going to have to trust that everything is sorted out and life can go back to normal." Coulson says before leaving the lab.

"Well that's that then." Simmons said before going back to work alongside Fitz.

"Yeah that's that." Skye repeated while she looked at the stair case that Coulson had gone up.

For Claira the next morning was nerve wracking. She woke up at 8:00am as usual but knew that in three hours she had an interview. Or was supposed to. She was making her breakfast when she heard running. Someone was running up the stairs. Then she heard knocking on her apartment door. She had half a mind to ignore it but that wasn't an option when they picked the lock and ran inside.

"Hey what the hell do you think you're doing?" Claira yelled at the person.

"Running away from those crazy idiots." The person said. Claire looked up to see a woman in her thirties.

"Who are you?" Claire ask her. She was about to answer when someone else comes crashing through her door.

"Put your hands in the air Marco." A woman said as she and a man walked in. the woman put her hands up while the other woman had a gun trained on her.

"What the hell is going on here?" Claira yell to the room.

"Nothing for you to worry about." The man said.

"Well all three of you just broke into my apartment your friend is pointing a gun at someone and the other woman is checking for different ways to get away." Claire explained. "I'd threaten to call the police but it's fairly obvious that you to work for the government. Oh and don't even bother you try it and she will shoot you. Yeah I saw where you were looking. Meanwhile I would like to know what the hell is going on. Also why there is a bow and arrow sitting at my front door. Let's see your jumpsuits have an emblem Ahh you work for SHIELD it all makes sense now." Claira said smugly.

The two agents look shocked. "You're coming with us." The man said.

"I am not going anywhere until I know why you are arresting this woman." Claira had said which annoyed the man.

"Alright, she was using alien material that she got off the black market to turn it into some sort of mind control device." The man said. He had thought at the time I wouldn't believe him. But I was empathetic and knew he was telling the truth.

"Thankyou. Now I can go." Claira responded. The two agents had looked confused but led Claira down to the car anyway. She was taken to a SHIELD base but because her parents didn't talk about work she didn't know which one she just knew that her parents couldn't know she was here and SHIELD couldn't know who she was. She was put into an interrogation room and left alone for about ten minutes. Then the red head from her apartment walked in.

"Who are you?" she asked when she had sat down.

"Who are you?" Claira asked though she had known she wouldn't get an answer.

"How do you know about SHIELD?" The red head asked Claire.

"I'm not saying anything." Claira deadpanned.

"Why not it's not as though you're in trouble." The redhead said. Claira remained silent. She had said she wasn't saying anything and she didn't. The redhead walked out. Claira new that if she didn't say anything she wasn't getting out but if she gave SHIELD even the name Claira May instead of Coulson they would find out. She knew that if she escaped they would look for her but she didn't see another option. So she was deciding on a plan when a man with an eye patch walked in.

"I hear you're causing trouble around here. So let me make this simple. Tell me who you are!" The eye patch man said.

"No." Claira said.

"Have you been held at gunpoint before? My agent said you didn't even flinch when the gun was brought out. Why is that?" The man asked.

"Because if I needed to I could have taken it off her. Just ask the question you really want to know. You want to know what I know and how I know it." Claira said. She had known because she had read him. So she knows what he wants.

"Alright. Then tell me. What do you know and how?" The eye patch man asked. Claira just smiled already knowing her answer.

"Google."


	3. Chapter 3

"Google."

"I'm sorry what?" Eye patch said perplexed.

"I'm not in the habit of repeating myself but since you apologised you are forgiven. All information is accessible by the internet you just need to know what to search." Claira Said rather smugly.

"Well mysterious person. What makes you think that you could disarm a SHIELD agent?" Eye Patch asked curiously. At the time Claira didn't realise how good the agent she was up against was.

"I've done it before." Claira had explained while being sure not to say too much.

"Ok so here, you know too much. We don't have the resources to keep a constant eye on you. So here's my offer, we see what you're capable of and if you have the capabilities of a field agent you work for us. Under a close eye of course." Eye Patch said.

"What if I say no?" Claira asked.

"That is an option you do not want to explore. So your answer?" Eye Patch said.

"I'll do it." Claira responded. Eye Patch was beginning to walk out when Claira realised that she didn't know his name. "Wait what do I call you?" Claira asked him as he walked off.

"Director Fury, what do I call you?" Fury asked Claira. Though she knew he couldn't ever know her name.

"Whatever you want Director, pick a name." Claira responded instead of her name.

"Alright then, I'll see you in the gym in an hour Mystery." Fury had said before exiting the room.

When Fury exited the room he ran into his deputy Director Maria Hill.

"Do you really trust her?" Hill asked the director.

"Not at all but we could use a girl like Mystery so please go and get Agents Barton, Romanoff and about three rookies." Fury had said to Hill, she then had gone to fetch them as he went to his office.

Hill found Agents Barton and Romanoff in the gym as expected, also as expected Barton was hiding in the vents because he had pissed Romanoff off again.

"Tasha, Clint. Fury needs you to do something." Maria said when she entered the room.

"What does he need?" Clint asked Hill.

"He's testing Mystery's skills to see if she should become an operative. It appears they have made a deal," Hill explained before she exited the room.

"Who's Mystery?" Natasha asked when she and Clint caught up.

"No idea, Hence the name." Hill explained.

During this time Claira or Mystery as she was now called, had been sitting in the interrogation room.

"I am sooo grounded." Mystery had said just before a guard came in and took her to the gym where she saw the two agents that were at her apartment, a bunch of other people and director Fury.

"Ahh Mystery you're here." Fury said when he walked over to her.

"Fury, shall we get started?" Mystery asked rather smugly.

"Alright so you are to beat all of these rookies in a fight, avoid all arrows that Barton shoots at you, stay hidden from Hill for an hour and hold up in a fight for at least 2 minutes against her." Fury said pointing to agent Romanoff.

"Ahh, Agent Romanoff correct?" Mystery asked her, she nodded. "I'm dead, ok I'll do it." Mystery confirmed.

"Good." Fury had said. "Let's begin!"

The next half an hour was the rookies which was easy for Mystery having been taught to defend herself by her parents meaning Agent Coulson and The Cavalry, though she knew better than to call her that.

Then she dodged all the arrows that Barton Shot but one because he shot two at once. She had been proud of herself though.

Then had been the harder part. Evading Agent Hill for an hour. She had spent most of it in the vents until she was alerted over the PA system that Agent Barton had joined the hunt. She knew the vents were too dangerous so she moved to the car park. She had made an hour and a half when Agent Romanoff simply sighed and walked up to her. Mystery hadn't expected her to join. So she was found.

Then was the really hard part. Lasting 2 minutes in a fight with Romanoff. Mystery wasn't as good as her mother, she knew that. Her mother was only slightly worse than Romanoff so Mystery's chances of lasting in a fight for 2 minutes were less than Barton's. Still she made 2 minutes and ten seconds.

"Wow, wasn't expecting that." Was all Fury had said about the fight. "All right you're in. follow me." Fury told Mystery.

"Um okay." Mystery said though she was thinking of what would happen if her parents found out. They spent her whole life hiding her from SHIELD and now she's walking into it. They didn't want her working for them, didn't want her to kill. But now she was going to work for SHIELD, yep she was grounded for the next few centuries.

"Ok so here is how it's going to work," Fury began when he and Mystery entered his office. "An agent will come by every day to your house to pick you up, then you come here and do whatever work you need to, you will have Thursdays and Sundays off assuming you aren't on a mission. So long as all your work is completed it's really your choice when you leave every day, but an agent will drop you home as well," Fury explains, "If you have any objections you can do what everyone else does and bitch about to friends with security clearance. Welcome aboard!" Fury said.

"Thankyou, I'm sure you won't regret this," Mystery says, though she knows that she will.

"Oh I'm very sure I will, cars waiting to take you home." Fury explains, Mystery just walks out and heads home.

'Well in one day I brought down my life's work to hide from them, I am sooo grounded for centuries, well it should be fun at least!' Claira thought when she got home.

_**I'm going to call her Mystery while she's at SHIELD, and Claira if she is at home to avoid confusion.**_

_**I hope you all enjoy my story, please review and tell me what you think!**_


	4. Chapter 4

'Well in one day I brought down my life's work to hide from them, I am sooo grounded for centuries, well it should be fun at least!' Claira thought when she got home.

The next day…

Claira had called Stark Industries yesterday and told them she couldn't make the interview and rescheduled it for today so at 9:00am, so she was running to get to an interview with Tony Stark. She was to be Mr Stark's new PA so the meeting was with him and Ms Potts directly. Claira was at the tower door when she heard a voice out of nowhere.

"Please state your name and reason for being here." The voice said though quite politely.

"My name is Claira May, I'm here for an interview with Mr Stark." Claira responded giving the name she used on the application.

"Of course Ms May, please move through to the lounge, Mr Stark will be with you shortly. Ms Potts apologises but could not make the meeting." The voice continued.

"Are you some sort of programme, like an Artificial Intelligence or something?" Claira asked curiously.

"Actually Ms May, that's exactly what I am." The voice responded. "I'm JARVIS." The AI told Claira.

"It's very nice to meet you JARVIS." Claira responded.

"It's a pleasure to meet you to Ms May." JARVIS when Mr Stark entered the room.

"Hello, let's go through the basics shall we." Mr Stark said, weird guy.

"Your name is Claira May correct?" Mr Stark asked Claira.

"Yes." she lied.

"You're twenty years old?"

"Yes." That was true.

"And you have an engineering degree from MIT." Mr Stark finishes. I nod. "Well, let's begin the interview then shall we." Mr Stark said. The interview had been over in an hour. Claira had gotten the job.

"Well Ms May, since you're my PA I request that you accept the room provided in my tower." Mr Stark requests. Claira thought about that for a moment, it was dangerous. These were her father's friends that think he's dead. More importantly agent Romanoff and agent Barton stay here, what if they recognise her from someone's descriptions or her apartment. No too dangerous. On the other hand, Claira's about to lose her apartment, she needs money but it won't pay off quick enough so she needs a place to stay. So risk being homeless or risk her identity being discovered.

"How many people actually live here?" Claira asked realising that while all the avengers stay here, they may not live here so they may not be here often.

"Just the avengers, and only Bruce and I are always here. The others just come if they… ah… get some time off of work." Mr Stark explained.

'So that means that if they are injured on a mission and have a week or two to recover they stay here, well they wouldn't be moving round the tower then would they?' Claire thought

"Umm, okay I'll stay." Claira answered. 'Sorry dad but place to stay comes before well, life.' Claira thought just knowing she was going to be made immortal just so that her parents could ground her for EVER!

"Good, now what time do you usually get up?" Mr Stark asked.

"Um about 8:00am when I'm in new York, I used to move around a lot, when I was out of the city I used to wake up a lot earlier but for some reason I always slept later here, I might wake up earlier as my body gets used to New York, I don't know." She answered.

"OK well at that time usually Pepper, Steve, Bruce and Natasha when she is here is up. Unless Clint has work he usually gets up at 9:00. But if you start getting up before 7:00am it'll be either just you and Steve or Tash might be up as well." Mr Stark explained, "I myself either don't sleep or I get up by mid-day or I'd have gotten up at like 3:00am." He continued.

"Alright, so when will my work day start?" Claire asked.

"Let's say 9:00am you start work. Now let me show you around the tower, first thing you should know is I hate work and won't ever be so professional again," Mr Stark said while heading towards the elevator, "I simply did today because Pepper said that she would go out and buy a pug if I wasn't professional about this interview. I don't like dogs, oh I was going to ask why did you reschedule your interview?" he asked, then he realised that he was at the elevator and I hadn't moved, "Are you coming?" he asked. Claira nodded and followed.

"So anyway Claira tell me about yourself." Stark asked.

"Well not much to tell really, I'm twenty, I graduated college four years ago, my name's Claira though most people call me Claire um and I'm a genius." Claira responded

"Oh genius huh, we'll see about that!" Mr Stark smugly responded. For the next half an hour Stark showed Claira around the tower and to her room. She would be moving in on Saturday so she could get settled before work on Monday though she knew she'd feel anything but settled.

After Claira left Tony went up to the living room of the tower and went over to the bar, he hated working but he hated dogs more. And at the moment he was pretty sure he hated Pepper, or as much as you can hate the woman of your dreams. Then she walked in.

"So Tony how did it go today?" Pepper asked. "Did you hire her?"

"Yes I did, and it went great she even agreed to move in." Tony responded.

"Well that's good, what did you think of her?" Pepper asked.

"Well, she's a genius. I mean not my kind of genius but she's really smart." Tony answered.

"Ok but what did you think of her?" Pepper asked again.

"I think she avoided answering questions about her. She completely dodged a few like why she rescheduled. She's good though, I didn't even notice for ages that she hadn't answered." Tony said honestly.

"Did you check her out?" Pepper asked, she knew the answer.

"Yup, apart from escaping lock up after she got arrested coz she flipped an officer to the ground she's clean. And I checked into that, she was at a party trying to leave the premises before the cops arrive but one tried to grab her from behind. It was obviously just reflexes I checked the security camera footage." Tony explained.

"Well I guess we'll find out when she gets here in three days." Pepper said as she walked to the kitchen and made dinner.

Claira realised she had a bigger problem about SHIELD. She had two jobs, both working on a daily bases, and SHIELD planned to pick her up from her apartment not Stark tower. They couldn't know she worked there or they'd have her name. She'd have to talk to Stark about a flexible work schedule and SHIELD about that too. She was thinking on this when she walked into her apartment to hear her T.V. on.

"I thought I turned that off." Claire said to herself as she turned off the television. She looked around her apartment. Something felt off. She had inherited her parent's instincts and was sure that she wasn't imagining it. She walked into the kitchen to see a small wrapped gift sitting on her dining room table. She checked the card attached.

_To our dearest Claira,_

_We don't know if we'll see you on your birthday this year, we are heading out to Switzerland today and might not be back for a month or two so we might miss it. We are really sorry baby girl but here is your present. Don't open it until, your birthday and call us when you open it! Then we can still sing happy birthday._

_HAPPY 21__ST__ BIRTHDAY_

_One of the most important years, congratulations Claire, we love you._

_To you nearly on your birthday,_

_мама и папа__. =)_

"Aww, you two, you even called yourselves mum and dad in Russian, you guys are the best." Claira said to herself. She was sure that even if her parents weren't there with her a few weeks later they would make sure she didn't feel alone.

She started packing her things that night. She only had three days to pack. It's a good thing she didn't stay there often so she didn't have much. And also a good thing that she had a few boxes there.


	5. Chapter 5

3 days later Claira was at Stark tower in the living room when Pepper Potts introduced herself.

"Hello Ms Potts I'm Claira." Claira said.

"Please Claira call me Pepper." The strawberry blonde responded. "Now, I have a meeting to get to but Tony will show you to your room and help you get settled." She said before leaving the room. Claire turned her attention to Tony.

"Ahh yes, your room is this way." Tony said awkwardly. He led Claira to the elevator and down two levels to the guest rooms. He took Claire to her room and told her about JARVIS. "So if you need anything JARVIS will help." He explained. Claire looked around the room a bit and at the bed.

'This place is amazing!' she thought.

"It's pretty cool, feel free to change what you like but if u break it you replace it which probably would suck for anyone but me." Stark said smugly, it was like he had read Claire's thoughts. Or at least that's what she was thinking. "Oh and there's Chocolates under the pillow but don't tell Pep, she said it was too much but I'm Tony Stark, too much is what I do." He said and left the room.

Claira packed away all her stuff, so a bag and a box, before remembering the conversation she had to have with Stark about work hours.

'Maybe I should talk with Fury first. Oh who am I kidding, he has no control over me, I'll just do the fun parts of the job that will save time.' Claira thought while smirking.

"What are you smirking about?" Mr Stark asked apparently having re-entered the room.

"Oh nothing just remembered all the times I pictured meeting Iron Man, this is not what I imagined but this Tower is amazing!" Claira said, she knew even then that to dodge a question with him just compliment him and stroke his ego.

"Ok well, I thought I'd introduce you to Bruce, well I'll show you to the room I don't have to introduce people, that's what you're here for!" Stark said. He and Claire went into the elevator and down to a lab level. All the levels were shown by icons, Claira had a hunch this helped Stark navigate when he was drunk. The top level was a picture of a lounge, it was the common living area. The next was a picture of the arc reactor and a business case, it being Stark and Pepper's room. The third from the top had a picture of a bow and arrow, obviously Agent Barton's. The one below his was a picture of a spider with the black widow logo next to it, agent Romanoff's. Then a green fist, Dr Banner. Then a captain America shield, Captain Rogers room. Then was a picture of a suit and a red poppy. No one was wearing the suit it was just a picture you might find in a suit shop when they have them on mannequins. The next one was a picture of two beds, guest rooms. Then everything else down is different kind of lab pictures. Stark pressed a chemistry lab picture and the two went down the three levels to the lab.

'The suit, who do they know who wears a suit? Poppies are a symbol of remembrance suggesting that the person is dead, but who is the suit?' Claira thought as they stepped out of the elevator.

"Uh Mr Stark there is something I need to discuss with you." Claira said. 'Just talk about the work ours, you can do this come on. I can take down people twice my size I can do this!' Claire thought to herself.

"OK shoot." Stark responded.

"Well you see I took this job for two reasons, one because I love everything about this place, and two because I really needed the money." Claire began wondering if she should have taken a different approach. 'Oh well no going back now.' She thought.

"Alright." Stark said unsurely.

"But the thing is that I also have another job that came out of the blue the day before my interview which is why I had to reschedule, but I'm not really in a position to quit that job. The problem is that I don't think that job will pay me." Claire said awkwardly.

"You don't like going into details much do you? Well, I'll tell you what. As Pepper has told me again and again, the job of being my assistant is 'too difficult for one human being to cope with without a mental breakdown' so I was going to offer you a choice which sounds like it could help the situation." Stark began. "I can get another assistant on the job as well. You two take turns, I was thinking monthly. So like one month the other girl does it then you do. If you can make a deal with your other 'job' to fit those hours than everything's fine. But I will expect everything that I don't do to be done on time!" Stark had explained. Claira nodded.

"Thankyou." Claire said.

"Anyway, here is Bruce." Stark said walking through a door into one of the few labs chemistry labs on this level. They walked in and found the other man sitting by a computer studying what appeared to Claire as results from a simulation

"Damn it!" Bruce said.

"Hey Brucie got someone here for you to meet." Tony said.

"Hey Tony, what are you talking about?" Banner said before looking up and seeing Claira. "Tony who is this?"

"This is my new assistant, please feel free to introduce yourselves." Tony said before leaving the room.

"Hi, I'm Claira." Claira said after about a minute of awkward silence.

"I'm Bruce, nice to meet you. Sorry about Tony he can be like that, you know annoying." Bruce explained.

"Yes, I've noticed, but he seems alright." Claire said.

"So are you staying here?" Bruce asked her, she thought he seemed nice enough for a green rage machine, but she hadn't seen him angry. Yet.

"Possibly every second month but some details of my working here still need to be finalized. I'm in a bit of a complicated position at the moment." She explained.

"Ahh well so are most of us here, welcome to the tower." Bruce said and smiled at Claira, she smiled back.

_***So sorry the update took SOOOO long. My laptop went missing for a while so I couldn't get to the half-finished chapter, anyway hope you all enjoy this chapter!***_


	6. Chapter 6

"Ahh well so are most of us here, welcome to the tower." Bruce said and smiled at Claira, she smiled back.

The next day she went back to her apartment and waited outside for SHIELD to arrive.

"You a Mystery?" the agent said, obviously not getting that he was told to say that because it's Claira's 'name'.

"Yes, but isn't everybody?" She respond creepily. She get in the back of the car and smirked when she saw the guy's confused face. They drove back to the SHIELD base in silence. When they arrived Mystery was taken directly to Fury's office.

"Ahh Mystery, I see you came back. I must say I'm a little surprised." Fury had said when she walked in.

"Good to see you to director Furry." Mystery said. He glared at her, she smirked, he rolled his eyes. "I've got to have a chat to you." she said. The talk was easier to do with Fury because she didn't have to act professional here at all.

"Oh, and what would that be about?" He asked sarcastically having had no intention of adhering to anything she said. He didn't trust her, and she didn't trust him. They didn't really need to yet.

"I can only work every second month." she said nonchalantly.

"And why would that be?" he asked in the same sarcastic tone.

"None of your business, you didn't really expect me to work by your agenda did you? I'll work hard while I'm here and do the job I'm told to but I can only do that every second month!" she said defiantly and leaving no room for arguments.

"Fine, but after your training I imagine that time will be spent on a lot of missions leading to a lot of paperwork that MUST be done or this arrangement will not work out!" Fury said coldly. "Now, you will start your training today. First combat, you will be escorted to the gym. Oh and you'll be under guard the entire time you are here, so don't try anything." He explained.

"Fine!" Mystery said exasperatedly and strolled out of the room. An unnamed agent took her to the gym and stood inside as her Supervising officer, as he called it, found out how well she could fight.

"Alright, we'll start by sparring to see your skill level first." she took him down in under a minute, her mother being the cavalry and all, she taught Mystery to defend herself when she was younger, she enjoyed it so May taught her more. That was until Bahrain.

"Okay, I'd say we can move past that. How are you with weapons?" he asked, she made an okish sign with her hand. They moved to a shooting range. "Well let's find out then." He said he handed her a gun which she loaded having seen her father do it on numerous occasions. They had not how ever taught her to fire one. They didn't want her combat ready. But she shot the target six times, four of which hit the centre. It occurred to Mystery then that all this would only make Fury more suspicious of her. That would be funny.

"OK, fine there as well. How are you at lying and keeping a cover?" he asked. She looked at him with her 'are you serious' look. He seemed to remember why he was doing all this then.

"Right, never mind. Um what about interrogation?" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Ok, well we will start with you being interrogated then the other side of the table." He explained. Mystery nodded an allowed herself to be escorted to another room with a table and a chair. To which she was directed. The second she had sat down a hologram began of people interrogating her. St the time she didn't know how it worked. But she knew she would find out. And she was right.

So she got interrogated and didn't spill anything. She even got some information out of him. She however had no idea what to do when she had to interrogate someone. It ended in them escaping.

"Well, we'll have to work on that." Was all her S.O. said. She just shrugged it off. At the end of the day she also knew how to fill out and file paperwork. Before she could leave she had to see Fury while her S.O. filled him in on the events of the day.

"Well sir, as long as she doesn't need to interrogate someone she's ready. Her combat results were up there with Agents May and Romanoff. Her shooting was of a more average agent but was still good. She excelled at being interrogated, she got information out of them without slipping up anything. But when she had to interrogate someone they escaped." Her S.O. finished. Fury looked at Mystery confused. She just shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright, your recommendation?" Fury asked the agent.

"She's ready for active field work." He responded.

"Alright dismissed. Now Mystery, there is one more thing you have to do before you go on a mission." Fury said after the agent had left the room.

"What's that?" Mystery asked.

"Not today." Fury said the smallest of smirks on his face.

"Well, then next month. Until then, can I leave?" she asked, Fury nodded. She was taken back to her apartment. When the car was out of sight she counted to a hundred before making her way to the tower before her first day of work there.

"Welcome back Ms May." JARVIS said when she got up to the door.

"Thankyou Jarvis." Claira responded while she opened the door. She went into the elevator when she saw the icon again on the button. Of the suit and the poppy, unable to contain her curiosity she pressed it and allowed the elevator to take her there.

When she got out she found herself in a dark room, she turned on the lights to see huge writing on a wall directly across from the elevator. It read 'Phil Coulson, The real superhero." All around the room were flowers and pictures of Coulson. There were six very clearly different spots, Claire went up to each of them and noticed that they were spots for each avenger to leave things and notes and pictures for Coulson. Claira realised this was a memorial for her father, they still believed he was dead but realising how important he was to them all she couldn't help but shed a few tears before getting back in the elevator and heading up to her room.

She got changed into less workout and more normal clothes and went up to the kitchen. She found Bruce, Tony and Pepper there at the dinner table. She grabbed some food and was about to leave when Bruce called her back.

"Claira, please join us." He said. She nodded and took a seat next to him.

"So I went into shieelowwer um shielower today," Stark said stopping himself just before he said SHIELD but covering it up badly. "And everyone is talking about the new girl named Mystery. They don't know anything about her, not even her real name Fury gave her that nickname when she didn't give up her name." he continued.

"I can't believe Fury hired her." Pepper said.

"It does seem oddly out of character, anyway how about we talk about something that Claira can actually contribute to." Bruce said, Claire smiled at him friendlily. By the end of the night they were all laughing together, it was ten o'clock before any of them even left the table. But they all decided to turn in at that point. Claire went to sleep thinking of her father's Memorial, just a few floors below, and her father, a few thousand miles away. It just didn't seem fair.


	7. Chapter 7

Claira woke up the next day and got ready for work, she was running late so she hoped that Mr Stark had actually gone to bed and so wouldn't be up until mid-day. When she was showered and dressed she got into the elevator and rode it up to the living room/kitchen floor. She found Pepper, Bruce and Steve there, Steve had a bandage on his arm so she guessed he had been shot. She just had to pretend to only know him by tabloids. She HAD to get a photo with him for her dad.

"Good morning Claire." Bruce said to her.

"Good morning Bruce, Pepper." She said to them, she then pretended to have only just noticed Steve in the room. "I don't believe we've been introduced, I'm Claira, Mr Stark's new PA." Claire said to be friendly while she had stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"Nice to meet you ma'am, Steve Rogers." He said while he shook her hand.

"Where is Mr Stark?" Claira asked looking to Pepper.

"Last I saw he was passed out in bed. I doubt he'll be up for a while." She said. "Would you like a coffee, I was just making one myself?" Pepper offered kindly.

"Oh Yes thankyou, that would be wonderful." Claire responded, she smiles and goes over to the coffee maker and made them both a cup. After breakfast that morning Pepper had shown Claira the ropes of her job and explained a few things about dealing with Stark. By the time Tony got up and one pm, Pepper and Claire were in the kitchen having a coffee again, talking and laughing about various things.

"Ahh, look who finally decided to get up." Pepper said upon noticing Stark enter the room.

"Mr Stark." Claira said with a nod to him. He just nodded back and went over to the coffee maker.

"Ohh, um Ahh." Stark said clicking his fingers in Claire's direction. "What's your last name again?" he asked her.

"May," She responded. It wasn't true but he didn't know that.

"Right, yes May, come with me." He said and walked over to the elevator. Claire excused herself to Pepper and followed him. The two went down to his lab where he walked over to a set of blueprints that Bruce was standing over.

"I'm telling you Tony the problem is here!" Bruce said pointing to a spot on the blue prints.

"No, no that's fine." Tony said. He got JARVIS to run a simulation of the device but it blew up. "Hey April, what's wrong with this thing?" He asked Claire.

"My name is May and let me have a look." Claira said to him while she walked over and stood in front of the blue prints she really didn't want to read it today so she pointed to the part of the sheet that Bruce had pointed to. Mr Stark looked closer at it.

"Ohh, yes I see it. Oh that's an easy fix for a genius like me. How'd you know?" he asked Claire.

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I didn't even read it I just pointed to where Dr Banner did." Banner smirked.

"Oh yeah, that's nice." Stark said. The rest of the day went like that except she actually read things after that. Honestly only twice more did Claira have to help the two of them, otherwise she did paper work and occasionally spent an hour trying to get Stark to sign it.

The next morning went like the last, Claire got up got ready and went into the kitchen where she had coffee. This time though Pepper was at a meeting so it was just her, Bruce and Steve. All of which were sitting at the breakfast table eating eggs that Steve had oh so kindly made.

"So, what's it like being super heroes?" Claire asked them randomly.

"Um, it's like everyone else except famous, and when the worlds about to end we stop it." Bruce said awkwardly.

"Why do you say if the world's about to end, even if the aliens from New York had taken over the world would still be spinning and here, we might all be dead but the world would still be here even if everything on it was dead." Claire asked, the question had been bugging her for a while.

"Because there are creatures out there that could and would blow the planet apart." Stark said walking into the room. "Can we not talk about this please?" Stark asked. Everyone nodded. Then we all suddenly heard arguing from the elevator.

"Looks like legolas and little red are home." Mr Stark comments.

"Technically sounds like not looks like because you can't actually see them." Claira said pedantically.

"Whatever April." Stark said.

"It's May." Claire corrected again. Then the doors opened and Agents Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff walked out. Then Claire knew she was in trouble. They had been the ones in her apartment when she was first brought in to SHIELD there is no way they won't recognise her!

They walked in and eyed her for a second before Bruce introduced them all.

"Um, Tasha, Clint this is Claire, Claire this is Natasha and Clint." Bruce says. Claire Nodded to them.

"Pleasure to meet you both." She said in her usual polite manner. She had never seen the point in being rude, she was just sarcastic at inappropriate times quite often.

"Yeah, you too." Clint said. While Natasha just nodded back.

"We're having breakfast, please come." Bruce said politely. They nod and sit down. Natasha purposely sits next to Claire and whispers in her ear when the other all engage in conversation.

"So I'm guessing that Claire isn't your real name." she whispered.

"I really don't know what you mean." Claire said in a manner that to anyone else would seem sincere, she was just keeping up her Claira May professional act. Natasha just rolled her eyes and joined the conversation with the others. Just when everyone was about to get up Claira gave Natasha and Clint a look she could only hope read something like 'please don't tell Fury I work here'. They look at each other for a moment before Clint looked back to Claire and nodded.

Claira was beginning to think that she might actually make it here. After she had gone back to her room that night to get something she went to her father's memorial floor. She walked over to the main shelf for anyone to add things and placed the item there. It was the captain America trading cards that Fury ruined. They were worthless to her dad now, he was trying to recollect them all. She knew that he would want them here. Then she went back up to her room and went to bed vowing to call her father tomorrow, she just needed to hear his voice.


	8. Chapter 8

_**I've decided that every chapter will be a new month, so that you have one chapter of Claira working for Stark and then one chapter of her working at SHIELD. The only time this will change is if something is happening that needs two chapters in which case down the bottom of the chapter will be the words 'to be continued'. Thanks for listening and please enjoy!**_

It was Mystery's first day of actually working at SHIELD today. As before she hurried over to her old apartment building and waited for the agent to come pick her up. The agent that came to get her was actually agent Barton, she knew this wouldn't be good.

"Ahh, Mystery. Or is it Claire?" he asked her when she had gotten into the car.

"Actually neither but I prefer Mystery, it sounds so much cooler." Mystery said, and technically it was true, her name was Claira not Claire. That was just a nickname.

"Alright then Mystery, well the reason I'm picking you up is because Fury has a mission for you and me. He would usually send me and Nat but it's in Russia so he decided against it. He is sending in his most dispensable operative." Barton said with a smile on his face.

"Oh that's nice thanks so much Agent Barton. Fury is just the kindest man in earth don't you think." Mystery said sarcastically Barton laughed a little at that. "You know that means you as well." She pointed out. He looked like he was about to reply before getting a hard agent face on. Mystery was confused for a second before realising they had arrived at the SHIELD facility. The two made their way through the base and to Fury's office.

"Enter." Fury said when Barton knocked.

"Ahh, you're here." Fury said motioning for us to sit down.

"Yes Director Pirate Sir." Claire said before sitting down to which he glared at her, she smirked, he rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, you have a mission for us sir." Barton said after making a mental note to tell Natasha about that later.

"Yes, we have a lead on some people selling alien weapons, we aren't as worried about them as we are worried about the people they are selling them to." Fury explained.

"Who are they selling them to?" Mystery asked, suddenly getting very serious.

"We have reason to believe that they are selling them to the red room who are testing what they do on the children they have recently kidnapped, we also have reason to believe they are re-opening the black widow program, we need you to shut it down." Fury explained.

"Oh, no pressure then, just bring down the operation filled with deadly assassins much like Natasha freaking Romanoff." Mystery said. "Not the assassin part, like agent Romanoff in the, could snap your neck with her pinkie blindfolded and extremely drunk part." She clarifies after getting to death glares.

"In any case, you leave in the morning." Fury said, "Any questions?" he asked.

"No sir." Clint responds when Mystery doesn't say anything.

"Right then, dismissed. Not you Mystery." Fury said. Barton walked out while Mystery stayed seated.

"I've been thinking over our deal about you working every second month. It could work but the month you work here you are to stay in the quarters that agents all have on base, not many people use them but seeing as we don't trust you it makes sense to me that while you're working here you stay here." He explained. It made things easier on Mystery so she just nodded.

"Dismissed." He said. She mock saluted him and walked out. She collected the mission file from the desk outside Fury's office and went to the cafeteria where Barton waved her over. She sat with him both reading the file until agent Romanoff walked in and sat down with them at which point they stopped reading and actually ate lunch. The day ended and Mystery was shown to her quarters.

The next day she got up at 6:00am and got ready for the mission before meeting Barton in the quin jet they were taking. They took off as soon as everything was secured.

"Ever been to Russia before?" Barton asked while in flight over to Russia.

"Yeah, I went there once a year from the time I was eight to sixteen. Actually as I recall one year I went three times." Mystery said.

"Oh, do you speak Russian then?" He asked, 'it would be helpful if she did.' He thought.

"Yes I do." Mystery responded. He nodded. The rest of the flight was in silence. When they landed they headed towards a hotel that they had pre-booked a room for, it occurred to Mystery that because of how often she had been here she knew people and had friends. She knew she had to tell agent Barton about that. When they got to the room though, Barton had something else to say.

"We need a cover for when out in public, just names and how we know each other if at all." He explained.

"Ok, do we choose Russian names to fit in or any name?" Mystery had asked, secretly she had hoped he would say Russian name, she loved Russian names.

"Not standing out will work best so Russian names, I'll be Pavel." Barton said.

"I'll be Dasha." Mystery said, it was her favourite name, still is actually.

"Alright now I'm thinking big brother, little sister relationship?" he suggested. Mystery just looked at him for a minute, she then guided him over to a nearby mirror to show him the both of them together.

"Barton, I'm half Chinese, how do you expect that to work?" she asked sarcastically.

"Oh shut up smart ass." He said not really annoyed. "Alright, well how about we're friends who used to go to school together?"

"That works, and Agent Barton there is one problem, I used to stay in Russia a lot so I know people here, thankfully we aren't anywhere near where they live but…" She said letting him fill in the rest of the sentence.

"Right well, we'll have to be careful and if you see anyone you know just duck into a shop, I'll do the same." He said. Mystery nodded.

"Now, the difficult bit is finding out what the guy actually wants to do with the weapons he's buying and if the black widow program is re-opening." Barton said. Mystery debated telling him about her power for a moment before deciding not to but using it anyway.

"I just need a conversation with him, I'll find out." She said instead. Barton looked over her for a moment before nodding.

They headed to a café where the guy, named Damion, apparently goes a lot and sat down, Barton at an outside table, and Mystery at an inside one. As predicted he soon showed and ordered a coffee. He sat down at the island bench next to the counter. Mystery was to go and flirt with him to get information though actually she just had to sit and talk with him so that she could use her powers to find out what he wants. So she walked over to him.

"Mind if I sit here?" she asked in Russian.

He looked her over, Barton who was watching at the window kept reminding himself that the guy might not realise she was underage, Barton himself couldn't be sure but he was good at guessing ages. Of course she was twenty one, he just didn't know it.

"Go ahead, what's a lovely lady like yourself doing here alone?" he asked Mystery. 'Seriously, that's the best you could come up with?' Mystery thought.

"Do I look alone to you?" she responded, he smirked at her. 'Okay, power time, what does he want?' she thinks and focuses her power.

"Can I buy you a coffee?" he asked.

"Sure I'd like that." Mystery answered while focusing on her powers. 'What he wants most is, a weapon. He's swapping the alien weapons for a highly trained assassin from the black widow program. Why? Dig deeper, his daughter, kidnapped, assassin to break the kid out.' She realised.

"So what's your name?" he asked

"Dasha. Look I'm so sorry I completely forgot. My sisters visiting I have to go meet her. I'm really sorry, raincheck?" Mystery asked. He smiled sadly.

"Sure, can I have your number?" he asked. Mystery nodded and wrote down the number for a cell SHIELD gave before the mission for instances like this. Then she waved goodbye and walked out, she didn't walk over to Barton in case Damion was watching her leave, instead she walked round the block and sat at a park bench. About two minutes later Barton came round.

"How'd it go?" he asked in English to limit the people understanding us.

"He's trading the weapon for an assassin, he wants the assassin to break his daughter out from where she is being held, his daughter was kidnapped." Mystery relayed.

"And he just told you this?" Barton looked incredulous.

"Yes, does it matter we got the info." She said, hoping he'd drop it.

"Well, if he just gave it to you chances are its fake." He answered.

"This isn't my first rodeo Agent Barton. The informations real, trust me." Mystery pushed.

"How do you know that for sure?" he asked her.

"Just trust me, it is true." Mystery responded.

"Trust you? I don't even know your name." Barton just stopped himself from yelling.

"Alright, you want to know how I know. Fine. I know because he didn't tell me. I have powers, it's real. And as for my name, the name you know is the truth about me, and it's probably all you'll ever know about me that has proof to back it up." She said angrily. He just looked at her gobsmacked. Now he knew, even her parents didn't know she had powers. Only Barton and Mystery knew.

"We have to report to Fury." Agent Barton said.

"No please, Fury can't know I have powers. I'm not a threat, all they do is help me read people, basically." Mystery begged.

"You need to be on the index!" Barton declared.

"No, look if I deny it and offer no proof than would Fury do it? I'm not a threat Barton, these people are. We have to help those kids which means we have to finish this mission and there is no way you're doing it without me!" She said defiantly.

"watch me. You go back to the hotel and stay there." He said.

"You can't do this alone." She deadpanned. He just glared at her.

"Fine, where to now?" he asked sarcastically.

"To bring down the red room." She said.

The details of that mission were never made apparent to me, classified I guess. So all I can tell you is that they did bring down the red room, save the children, even Damion's daughter. They never said how which nearly got them both fired by Fury, no report was given and they never breathed a word of it to anyone. Not even me.


End file.
